Jerusalem ? Advisers to Yasser Arafat denied claims Wednesday that the Palestinian leader was recovering from a mild heart attack, saying instead that he was suffering from a severe case of stomach flu.

Arafat, 74, who has been besieged in his battered government compound in the West Bank city of Ramallah since December 2001, has appeared unusually weak in recent public appearances. Advisers and associates said his condition was caused by intestinal influenza that has dogged him for two weeks.

Britain’s Guardian newspaper, citing an unnamed Palestinian source, reported in Wednesday’s editions that Arafat had suffered a heart attack nearly two weeks ago. Two Palestinians officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, also told The Washington Post on Wednesday that they had been informed that Arafat had a mild heart attack.

But Saeb Erekat, a longtime Arafat adviser and Palestinian negotiator, dismissed the reports. “It’s not true,” said Erekat, who said he attended a lunch with the Palestinian leader Wednesday. “He’s recovering from a very severe stomach flu.”

That explanation was repeated Wednesday by several other senior Palestinian officials who said they had received reports in the past two weeks that Arafat was eating and drinking little.

Some Palestinian officials said they were startled by Arafat’s pallid and unsteady appearance Tuesday when he swore in some members of his new emergency Cabinet. Arafat was escorted into the room by aides supporting him on either arm and could barely stand on his own.

“We were told things weren’t quite as rosy as the doctors said,” said one official, who added that other Palestinian officials told him Arafat had suffered a heart attack last week. “He was placed on IVs for two days.”

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat puts his hand on his head while answering reporters questions at his compound in the West Bank town of Ramallah. Arafat's advisers said Wednesday that the Palestinian leader had been weakened by a stomach flu, but a physician denied a report that Arafat had suffered a mild heart attack.

A team of Jordanian physicians, including Arafat’s personal doctor, examined Arafat Sept. 29 at his Ramallah compound. At the time, Palestinian officials told reporters that Arafat had been suffering from abdominal pains, headaches and exhaustion.

The next day, Arafat stepped out of his office in front of well-wishers and news cameras in an attempt to dispel rumors about his health.

The ailments set in after a month in which some Israeli officials called for his expulsion because of continuing Palestinian suicide bombings against Israelis. Thousands of well-wishers and supporters streamed through his compound after Israel’s Security Cabinet said it was prepared to expel Arafat in the wake of two suicide bombings on Sept. 9 that killed 15 people at a Jerusalem cafe and a bus stop south of Tel Aviv.

Arafat has suffered from bouts of ill health for the past decade.